Poverty is the leading factor in African American’s education gap when compared to other races. A staggering 7.7 million elementary and post-secondary school students attended high poverty schools in 2006-2007 (“African Americans and Education,” n.d.), with 33% of those students being African American.
With a deficiency in resources crucial to preparing black men and women to be contributing members of society, their rate of success remains in the bottom percentile. Unemployment among blacks was 9.5% during the third quarter of 2015 compared to only 4.5% for whites (White, 2015). Due to the recent decline in job availability, a lack of education makes it extremely difficult to stand out in the job market, leading to an increase of households falling below the poverty line.
Effect of Poverty on Health and Behavior
One in four (26%) African American households are food insecure as compared with one in 10 (11%) of Caucasian households and one in seven (14%) households overall (“African American Hunger,” 2012). Hunger is known to decrease a student’s ability to concentrate in a classroom setting, and increases the risk of behavioral issues that may lead to disciplinary action. 35% of black children in grades 7-12 have been suspended or expelled during some point in their school years, and their disruptive behavior proves to be detrimental to the whole classroom’s learning as well as to their own evaluation of themselves.
Malnutrition and uninhabitable living conditions both increase the risk of poor health and developmental delays. Children living in poverty have been found to have higher levels of stress than their peers due to dealing with more stressors, which also contributes to issues in behavior and decreases the motivation to learn. Cognitive impairment can lead to a reduction in memory, the ability to solve problems, and the development of language— producing lower test scores and limiting attendance.
Lack of School Funding
Low-income populations require extra support and resources in order to be successful, but the schools available in these areas are often critically underfunded and understaffed. Thus, they lack the essentials to promote healthy learning and to prepare students for successful careers.
After-school and summer programs keep children engaged in positive activities that may or may not be offered at home. Those at risk for drug abuse and criminal activity benefit from being kept in a positive environment, and away from temptations created from unsafe neighborhoods. During summer breaks, a great amount of content learned throughout the previous school year is forgotten, but students enrolled in summer programs continue their studies thus increasing information retention and ultimately improving test scores and their overall attitude towards learning.
Programs supplying nutritious take-home meals for hungry students are crucial to keeping them alert and well. Having a guaranteed meal gives both students and parents a sense of confidence and comfort.
With a lack of adequate funding to support programs, such as these, that are designed to provide relief and increase productivity, performance rates suffer and the probability of drop-outs increase. Low-income students must often take on the responsibility of adults, dropping out to help alleviate the burden of finances and to assist with the younger members in their families. Thus, the vicious cycle of poverty repeats itself as children fall victim to the same lack of educational training and job opportunity as their parents.
Schools serving low income students employ teachers with less experience and lower pay, resulting in low quality teaching. The teachers are also less likely to apply effective methods for teaching, and may lower educational expectations. During 2009-2010, more than 80% of the bachelor’s degrees in education were awarded to white students, causing staff to be less diverse even in predominantly black schools. Concerns of a lack of understanding and ability to relate can cause a drift in the teacher-student relationship causing lectures to be less effective.
Black students are more prone to attending schools that do not have advanced placement courses, offering a curriculum that poses little challenge to those exceeding the performance of their classmates. Many fall in special placement, struggling with subjects such as Math and Reading, and a recent study has found that African-American twelfth-grade students read at the same level as white eighth grade students.
Parental Involvement
Success in the classroom not only comes from attendance, focus, and a general understanding of the content, but from parental involvement as well. The involvement of parents/guardians in their child’s education has been shown to benefit academic achievement— strengthening communication and encouraging regular attendance. Unfortunately, parents falling under the poverty line are failing to give student’s homework assignments, and their general education, the proper attention.
A number of these parents/guardians lack the basic knowledge needed to complete the take-home assignments, and often do not feel comfortable enough with the subject to offer assistance.
In 2012, 55% of African American children resided in single-parent households, where time is often consumed by multiple jobs and undesirable shifts—making it difficult to ensure work is complete and accurate.
Incarceration also affects parental involvement, as mothers, fathers, and even grandparents are left to look over the children while the parent is away. The majority of the 2.3 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails are people of color, people with mental health issues and drug addiction, people with low levels of educational attainment, and people with a history of unemployment or underemployment (Thompson, n.d.).
Areas with high crime rates produce an unhealthy outlook on life, and children often seek comfort in criminal activity due to a lack of parental monitoring and resources. Statistics show that African Americans make up 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to state prisons (“Criminal Justice Fact,” n.d.).
It is expected that 1 in 3 black males can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime. Felony convictions create severe limitations for job placement, financial assistance, and residency—causing hardship for both them and their loved ones.
Higher Education
From 2004-2007, the drop-out rate decreased by 3.4% and in 2008 the percentage of 18 to 24-year-old African American students enrolled in higher education increased to 32.6%. Although enrollment rates have increased, the completion rate still remains unsatisfactory. Due to a number of factors such as a lack of income and single parenting, African American students have been found to take longer than the expected 4-5 years to attain their degrees. Failing to complete the required hours for graduation continues to feed the high unemployment rate within the black community.
In 2010, President Obama issued an executive order which states that the government, the private sector, non-profits, and other groups will work with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities to provide higher quality education. In 2012, President Obama signed an executive order that declared, “Significantly improving the educational outcomes of African Americans will provide substantial benefits for our country by, among other things, increasing college completion rates, productivity, employment rates, and the number of African American teachers.” (“Milestones in African American,” n.d.).
Conclusion
The urgent need for higher quality education in Black America cannot be ignored. Although improvements have been made, there more communication, involvement, and funding that is needed to completely close the gap and offer all students—regardless of income— a fair opportunity at success.
- African American Poverty. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2016, from http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/african-american-hunger/african-american-hunger-fact-sheet.html
- African Americans and Education. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2016, from https://www.naacp.org/page/-/education documents/AfricanAmericansAndEducation.pdf
- Criminal Justice Fact Sheet. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2016, from http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet
- Deruy, E. (n.d.). Student Diversity Is Up But Teachers Are Mostly White. Retrieved February 10, 2016, from https://aacte.org/news-room/aacte-in-the-news/347-student-diversity-is-up-but-teachers-are-mostly-white
- Jensen, E. (n.d.). Membership. Retrieved February 09, 2016, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109074/chapters/How-Poverty-Affects-Behavior-and-Academic-Performance.aspx
- Milestones in African American Education. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2016, from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0872844.html
- Thompson, T. (n.d.). Fact Sheet: Outcomes for Young, Black Men. Retrieved February 07, 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/too-important-to-fail/fact-sheet-outcomes-for-young-black-men/
- Vespa, J., Lewis, J. M., & Kreider, R. M. (2013, August). America’s Families and Living Arrangements:2012. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-570.pdf
- White, G. (2015, December 21). Education Gaps Don’t Fully Explain Why Black Unemployment Is So High. Retrieved February 10, 2016, from http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/12/black-white-unemployment-gap/421497/
